The UK government's Genetics and Insurance Committee will, for the first time, permit the use of genetic testing for insurance purposes. Following the Committee's conclusion that tests for Huntington's disease are “reliable” and that “an abnormal result is associated with the significant clinical effects with an increased probability of a claim on life insurance,” the UK Department of Health announced the go-ahead for the test in mid October. People will not have to take the tests but they will be compelled to tell insurers of the results if they have been tested. Government decisions on tests for other conditions including breast and ovarian cancer, and Alzheimer's disease are expected in the next few months. A spokesperson for the Association of British Insurers, however, has already said that the industry saw no reason to wait for those decisions and that it would continue to use the tests until told to stop. The approval for the Huntington's tests paints the test as simply a way of distinguishing those in affected families who have inherited the dominant disease allele from those who have not. However, the severity and onset of Huntington's disease is influenced by length of repeated non-coding regions within the gene. It is unclear whether the insurance industry is able to react flexibly to such genetic veracities.